


Captivated

by khaleesiq



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 15:46:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4185594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaleesiq/pseuds/khaleesiq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve believes that Natasha doesn't know how to speak English and takes advantage of it. However, Natasha does know how to speak English, quite well in fact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captivated

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elduderino](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elduderino/gifts).



> This is for my lovely sister who has been begging me for a stevetasha fic for weeks. Finally, after watching Winter Soldier for the thousandth time, I finally got inspired to do it. It's inspired by an au idea from this post: http://theappleppielifestyle.tumblr.com/post/118268956516/i-got-in-my-car-and-you-were-sleeping-in-the

The elevator _dinged_ and the steel doors slid open slowly. Natasha paused from her conversation on the phone long enough to notice that it hadn’t reached her floor yet. She resumed speaking to her cousin just as a man stepped onto the elevator.

Natasha would be lying if she didn’t say that she found him extremely attractive. You didn’t even have to be attracted to men to find this guy hot. He had wide shoulders and a broad chest that his white t-shirt showed off nicely. His biceps bulged as he crossed his arms over his chest.

But in a complete contradiction to his body which screamed tough, manly, and hard, he had kind eyes and a nice wide grin for Natasha when he entered the elevator. Natasha wasn’t the type of person to smile and say hello to everyone that she met, but she couldn’t help but smile and recline her head in greeting to the man.

She was so lost in her assessment of the man on the elevator that she completely missed what her cousin was saying. Flustered, she asked him to say it again, explaining that she had been distracted. Luckily, she and her cousin were speaking in Russian, so the man wouldn’t be able to guess that she had been distracted by him.

Unless he spoke Russian. In which case, Natasha would have to get off the elevator as soon as possible to avoid dying of embarrassment.

They both got off at the lobby, the man giving Natasha a little wave before jogging out the door. Natasha just smiled back.

***

The next time Natasha saw the man, she wasn’t talking on the phone. And he wasn’t alone. The man that was with him had the same kind eyes and friendly smile that he did. But nowhere near as nice a body.

In order to keep herself from staring at the man’s impeccable body (which he was really showing off today in a small black tank top), Natasha took out her phone and started scrolling through Twitter. That’s when the conversation started between the man and his friend.

“I told you she was so hot, Sam,” the man said.

Natasha looked at him in astonishment. He wasn’t whispering or trying to keep his voice lowered at all, and he was talking about her like _that_? Right in fucking front of her?

“Uh, Steve,” his friend, Sam, said, looking between Natasha and the man—Steve—with an unsure expression, “I think she can hear you.”

Natasha was about to say, “Damn right I can hear you, and you better shut the fuck up if you want to keep that pretty face of yours pretty,” when Steve spoke again.

“It’s okay,” Steve said, giving Natasha a smile and a wave, “she doesn’t speak English.”

Even if Natasha _couldn’t_ speak English, it’s not like that would give him a right to speak about her like that. But—Natasha couldn’t help but be interested in what he had to say about her. So, she kept quiet. For research.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked, still looking unsure. “Excuse me, miss?” Sam said, now addressing Natasha.

Natasha remained on her phone, pretending like she couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Then she felt a tap on her arm, and looked up to see Sam smiling at her. She smiled back.

“Can you understand us?” Sam said.

Natasha tilted her head and feigned a confused expression.

“Do you know what we’re saying?” Steve asked.

Natasha continued looking between the two of them, bewildered. “Uh…” she said, trying to tell them, “No, I do not understand what you’re saying. Please continue to talk about me and how hot you think I am.”

Steve smiled at Sam. “See, I told you.”

Sam shrugged. “I guess so.”

“But I mean,” Steve continued, “just _look_ at her. She’s gorgeous. The red in her hair really brings out her eyes. And she’s got a really beautiful smile, did you see it?”

And that—that was not what Natasha thought he was going to say. Maybe, “Look at her boobs, and that butt, damn girl,” but not saying her eyes and smile were nice. Who the fuck was this guy?

They stepped off the elevator once they reached the lobby, and once again, Steve gave Natasha a little wave. Natasha waved back this time, but kept the smile to herself.

***

“Hey.”

Natasha didn’t look up from her phone as she muttered, “Hey,” back. It probably wasn’t anyone she knew anyway, just an over friendly resident of this apartment building.

“I fucking knew it.”

Natasha looked up in surprise to see Sam smirking at her.

“Shit,” Natasha said. “How did you know?”

Still smirking, Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “Your reaction when Steve started talking about you,” Sam answered. “And because I recognized you and I was pretty sure I had talked to you before.”

“Don’t tell Steve,” Natasha blurted without thinking. She flushed. “I mean—”

“Why not?” Sam asked before Natasha had a chance to redeem herself. “Why do you want him to think that you can’t speak English?”

“Well…” Natasha hesitated, trying to think of the least embarrassing way to explain herself. Unfortunately, everything about this situation was embarrassing, so she might as well go big or go home. “I just wanted to hear what he had to say about me. That’s all.”

“Why do you care?” Sam asked. Then, the realization dawned on him. “Wait. Unless you’re attracted to him?”

Natasha blushed even harder. She bit her lip and stared up at the ceiling. “Maybe I am.”

When she looked back at Sam, he was grinning. “Well, you’re lucky I like fucking with Steve.”

Natasha raised a single eyebrow. “Why would that make me lucky?”

“I’m not going to tell him you can speak English,” Sam explained. “It will be hilarious when he finds out that you heard everything he said about you right in front of you.”

Natasha smiled and nodded. An evil plan was always better with a partner in crime. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

***

For the next month or so, every time Natasha saw Steve and Sam on the elevator (or sometimes with someone else she didn’t know, but usually Sam), she remained silent and pretended she couldn’t understand a word Steve was saying as he rambled on about how gorgeous she was.

But she did. And it was amazing.

He couldn’t stop going on about her smile. Natasha was pretty sure that was his favorite thing about her. But he also spoke a lot about her eyes, and the look of concentration on her face when she was on her phone. Her laugh when she saw something funny on her phone could light up the entire building. Her look of confusion any time anyone addressed her in English was the most adorable thing he had ever seen.

And cute was not a word that anyone had ever used to describe Natasha. So this was all very overwhelming for her.

What hit Natasha most of all though was when Steve lamented to Sam, “I just wish that I could talk to her. Hear all the interesting things she has to say.”

Sam laughed. “How do you know she has anything interesting to say?”

Steve glanced at Natasha with a wistful expression. “Everyone has something interesting to say. I bet she could make a story about getting the mail sound interesting.”

“Okay man,” Sam said, clapping Steve on the back, “don’t make her out to be some dream girl that she’ll never amount to.”

Steve frowned. “You should’ve seen her when she was on the phone the first time I saw her. Waving her hands around and saying every word as if it was important. I mean, I couldn’t actually understand what she was saying, but even if it wasn’t in English, it was captivating.”

 _Captivating_. The word rang through Natasha’s head for the rest of the day. She was pretty sure no one thought she was captivating, except maybe those pigs that catcalled her on the street the other day. But that was because of her body. Her words and the way she talked had never been described that way, and she hadn’t even been talking in English!

That was when she decided that the game was over. She couldn’t continue to do this to him, not when she was developing genuine feelings for him rather than just thinking he was hot. And she would kill to have someone listen to her like she was _captivating_

(That was becoming her new favorite word.)

The very next time she saw Steve on the elevator she decided to confess everything to him. He was with Sam and they were talking as they stepped onto the elevator.

Natasha waited politely for a lull in their conversation before saying anything. Because she wasn’t quite done with her fun yet.

“Hey Steve, did you get a haircut?” Natasha said. “It looks nice.”

Steve jerked backwards into Sam’s body at Natasha’s words. He stared at her with wide eyes. “What the hell? How did you—? Do you—? What?”

Natasha just smiled at him while Sam cackled behind him. “Yes, I know English,” Natasha told him. “Very well, might I add.”

Steve gaped at her for a moment before whirling around to face Sam. “Have you known about this the entire time?” Sam nodded. “And you didn’t bother to tell me? Oh my god.” His eyes widened even more, if that was possible. “You understood everything I said. I am so, _so_ sorry.”

Natasha shrugged. “Don’t be. It’s nice to be complimented every once in a while. And besides, what you said is a lot better than ‘Nice ass, but I bet it would look better sitting on my face.’”

Steve laughed and the elevator doors opened. Natasha groaned; she had never been so disappointed to see the lobby of their building before.

They all stepped out, but this time, Steve didn’t go running off with a wave. Instead, he stayed with Natasha. “It was nice meeting you…”

“Natasha,” she filled in for him.

“Steve,” he said. Natasha didn’t bother telling him that she already knew that. It might have sounded a little creepy. “So, um, about what I’ve said about you—”

“Do you want to go out some time?” Natasha asked before she lost the nerve. It was strange, she never got nervous, but Steve made her feel flustered.

Steve nodded enthusiastically, and Natasha heard Sam laughing from somewhere behind her. “I’d love to,” Steve said.

“Great, here’s my number,” Natasha said as she dug through her purse for a piece of paper and a pen. She scribbled down her phone number and thrust the paper at Steve with a smile.

“Have I ever told you how much I love your smile,” Steve said.

“Maybe not directly,” Natasha said, “but I’ve heard some things. Anyway, I’d better get going.”

She turned around, that dopey grin still plastered to her face, when Steve called her name. She whirled back around and gave him a confused look. “Yeah?”

“I forgot to give you something,” he said. He took a deep breath and then leaned forward, and kissed her.

His hands cupped her cheeks and Natasha stumbled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist when their bodies were pressed together. Although he initiated it, Steve was a pretty hesitant kisser, and let Natasha take control.

She sucked on his bottom lip before opening his mouth with her tongue, sliding it along the roof of his mouth. It tasted minty, and she wondered if he had been chewing gum before getting onto the elevator.

He slid his hands down her neck and pressed them to her chest, pushing her away slightly. “Maybe we should do this in public,” he said, his cheeks stained red. From the kiss or embarrassment, Natasha wasn’t sure. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

Natasha gripped his hips and pulled him back against her. “When have you ever cared about what people thought of you?” she asked, kissing him again, her smile pressed against his lips.

 


End file.
